Clarke

Retired president and CEO of Scotiabank, William 'Bill' Clarke, will maintain possession of the house the bank had assigned to him for at least another five weeks.

A consent order was made yesterday when the parties appeared before Supreme Court Judge Roy Anderson.

An agreement was reached that Clarke would remain in the house and be in possession of the two motor cars which the bank had assigned him. The consent order will remain in force until the parties return to the Supreme Court on March 10 when there will be a hearing in chambers in relation to Clarke's claim.

Clarke had taken the bank to court in December last year, seeking an injunction to bar the bank from evicting him from the house on January 31. He was notified by the bank's head office in Canada that he was to vacate the house by January 31 and hand over the motor cars.

Clarke, who retired in November last year, is seeking to remain in possession of the house and motor vehicles until he has received his retirement package.

He said that before he went on retirement, it was agreed that the issue of his retirement package would go to arbitration.

One-day hearing

One of Clarke's lawyers said yesterday that when the matter returns to court on March 10, there will be a one-day hearing in chambers. Clarke will be seeking orders from the court for the matter to go to arbitration and how the arbitration should proceed. Clarke will also be seeking an injunction to remain in possession of the house and motor cars until he receives his retirement package.

A consent order was first granted on January 21 and it remained in force until yesterday when the bank gave another consent order.

Clarke, who was head of Scotiabank for 13 years until his retirement on November 1 last year, said that under the terms of the bank, he was not due to retire until December 15, 2015, when he would be 65 years old. He had been employed to the bank since April 1968.

Retirement package

He said on July 16 last year that the board of directors of the bank requested that he go on early retirement on the basis that he would be provided with a fair and equitable retirement package.

Clarke said further that he and the bank agreed that the retirement package would be settled by negotiation prior to proceeding on retirement. He said that when it appeared the negotiations of his retirement plan might not result in an agreement before the projected date of his retirement, he proposed to the board that the dispute be referred to arbitration and the bank agreed.

barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com